Senate GOP takes aim at EPA regs

Senate Republicans on Tuesday pushed to rein in what they say is an overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency, but a lack of significant Democratic support and a veto threat from the White House seemed likely to thwart their efforts.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, wants the Senate to approve a resolution blocking the agency's regulations on greenhouse gases. She and 11 GOP colleagues — ranging from Jim Inhofe who believes climate change is a "hoax" to Lindsey Graham, the one-time cosponsor of bipartisan climate change legislation — spoke to reporters about the measure in a Capitol Hill news conference.

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"Do you believe that the EPA, that an agency, should be setting climate policy in this country, that unelected bureaucrats who are not accountable to any constituents so far as I know, should be setting the policy? Or do you think that those of us in Congress, here in the Senate, should be setting that policy?" Murkowski asked. "This will be [a] straight up-or-down [vote]."

The EPA moved forward to regulate greenhouse gases as House-passed climate legislation stalled in the Senate. In 2007, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that gave EPA the authority to treat greenhouse gases as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

Though Murkowski's resolution has 40 additional co-sponsors—including at least one Democrat: Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas — it likely will fall short of the support necessary to pass when she asks for a vote Thursday. Majority Leader Harry Reid's office issued a statement attacking the measure and accusing Republicans of trying to secure a carve-out for oil companies by limiting the EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions. The statement linked the resolution of disapproval to the GOP's unwillingness to support an increase in oil companies' liability caps by a unanimous voice vote.